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Roald Dahl: Switch Bitch

I remember reading some of Roald Dahl’s books a couple of years ago. Until then, I’d only ead the standard childhood collection, of which my favourite had to be The Great Glass Elevator. I think I’d assumed that was the sort of book he wrote; I hadn’t realised what a masterful, accomplished storyteller he was. I read a collection including The Great Automatic Grammatizator and other sotries, and was blown away. I discussed his writing with a friend of mine at the time, and remember hearing that Switch Bitch was one of my friend’s favourite books of all. So when I saw it sitting on the shelf in the Congo, that was next on my list, right after Robinson Crusoe. And what a contrast it was! Enthralling, enticing and engaging, almost the polar opposite of Defoe’s stuttering story. I wouldn’t perhaps rank it as my favourite book ever, like my friend did, but it’s certainly up there. Read it!